HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY BETHANY!!!

One after another, these children of ours continue to grow up. Yesterday was the start of the round of birthdays. Today Bethany turns 11. I think she'd like to be 18. :-)

She tries very much to fit in with the older kids, yet she is content to be the older, wiser one with the younger kids.

She has really been developing her hairstyling skills. This past Christmas all of her gifts were salon related. This birthday as well. She really does a beautiful job with her own hair and that of her sisters. I love it because I don't have to do anyone's hair. And occasionally she styles my hair too.

She also loves to give manicures and pedicures. Now who does not enjoy those? I certainly enjoy receiving them but I think it takes someone special to give them. It's a gift. Sorta like the 2 and 3 Sunday school teachers. It's difficult to understand how they can do such a wonderful job AND enjoy themselves too.

Bethany has also been a huge help around the house. She is usually very willing to do the most menial tasks. She has been Silas' care-taker while we take Spanish classes and so Silas has come to be very fond of her.

We are very thankful for our third born child. Happy Birthday, Bethy!

Open wide

For reasons unknown to us Bethany, for the past month or so, has been having headaches. They seem to be random. Sometimes they come after a lot of reading in school. Other times she wakes up with them. After her last headache we decided that we would take her in to see the doctor. He wants to have her eyes checked and then will go from there depending on the results of that visit.

In the meantime she is taking allergy medicine to eliminate sinusitis as a possibility. Also she had to have a throat culture done because her throat was irritated and he wanted to rule out strep. Something that always makes me snicker is the light used in the ER for looking in the throat. It's actually an ordinary run of the mill flashlight.

Skit night at camp

High school reunion skit - The teams plan the different skits for skit night. This was the team Brandon was on. Brandon's friend "Nacho" (with glasses) plays the cool football player. He kept cracking me up because he is so shy around our house but as his character he kept looking at me and making faces.
High school reunion skit - Brandon plays the most popular guy who is now fascinated with an egg. He really got into the part and had an old man's character voice. We were told many times that he was hilarious. It's one thing to be funny in your native language but something else in a second language.
The big family skit - At first I thought they were spoofing us, but they say they weren't. The mom gets a great job offer and the dad stays at home with the kids. One night the mom's boss comes for dinner and all kinds of havoc breaks out.
The big family skit - Bethany and Kaitlin's team planned this one. At this point (I didn't get it a photo of it) the kids spill water and drop flour onto the boss. After that the baby is naughty. And finally the dog jumps onto the table. After the boss runs out and the mom follows, the dad pays the kids. This skit was really a slapstick type of comedy - no Spanish needed.

Birthday Pictures

Kaitlin had her friends over for the day - L to R, Jessica, Kaitlin, Eliana, Bethany and Yanina holding Silas.
Blowing out the candles. Simeon is helping Kaitlin.
Bethany's Flower cupcakes.
Kaitlin's cake. It was quite hot yesterday so the frosting is melting and slipping off the cake.

In the Double Digits...

Happy Birthday Bethany!!! This is a big week for us, yesterday Kaitlin became a teen and today Bethany makes it into the double digits. Just in case you're wondering...I'm not getting old, but my kids sure are.

Last night after church we had a little party for Bethany and Kaitlin's birthdays. I made a cake for Kaitlin and a flower out of cupcakes for Bethany. We put trick candles on the cake/cupcake which was good because we sang 3 different birthday songs to them. I finally got a little video clip of Archie doing his Mexican "yell" at the end of a song they all sang to the girls. Three Latin American countries -Mexico, Uruguay and Peru - were represented at the party and they all knew the song; so we are assuming this song is traditional to Latin America.

The Height of Fashion...

in arm slings! Instead of buying the standard blue sling I thought Bethany would like a pretty girly sling. She was so excited about the prospect of her own sling I took her along with me to chose her fabric. After she picked out her fabric at Chic Parisian (A clothing store in our mall) we went to the sewing supply store El Carretel (Another clothing store in town) to get the nylon strap and buckle. I'm sure I provided all kinds of laughter to the stores here as I attempted to tell them what I needed. Who would have ever guessed that Bias tape in Spanish is Bias (BE-as).

Once I figured out what I was doing it took all of about 30 minutes to sew and now Bethany has an adorable sling and so does Nellie, her American Girl Doll. All for about three dollars (US), can't beat that!

As for the question about her break our doctor in the US was able to have two Orthopedic Surgeons take a look at her x-ray. Also we were able to meet with the Traumatologo who saw her in the ER. He was very understanding of our concern. Everyone agreed that a sling should be adequate treatment for her. She has a recheck appointment on the 19 th to see how everything is coming along.

As a side note, it turns out that a Traumatologo isn't a Trauma doctor as we were thinking but an Orthopedic doctor. I think it's amazing how God had the right man there when we needed him. Not only that but the blessing of our doctor in the States and his willingness to help and advise. All this is evidence of God's foreknowledge and His concern for the welfare of our family.

Seven Little Monkies....

Sleeping in their beds

One fell off and

Didn't break her head.



But she did break her collarbone. Last night we woke up to the sound of Bethany crying after she had fallen off her bed. Everything looked ok when she stopped crying we went back to bed. She must be one tough cookie because she made it to church this morning before she finally gave in to the pain.


Ruth and I headed to the hospital where thankfully the Traumatologist (that's the equivalent of what he would be called in English anyway) was the doctor on call. He ordered an x-ray which clearly revealed that her collarbone was broke clear through. The treatment is the same here as in the States - keep her arm in a sling for a few weeks and keep her activity level down. No more chores, bummer for her!!!


After we got home we took another look at her x-ray and grew concerned over the angle of the bone closest her breastbone. Our doctor in the US returned our page within a couple minutes and we have sent the x-ray scan to him for a second opinion. Hopefully everything is normal and she will heal quickly. We'll keep you posted!